Known Irish song writer and Grammy nominee Larla Ó Lionáird said completing his PhD is like a great adventure; He pursued Ph D in Arts Practice at the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance wherein he is a co-founder and vocalist of the famous group The Gloaming.

Larla Ó Lionáird’s journey was one of self-discovery and passion. In January the same year, he deposited his doctoral thesis; it was also the same month that his father died. Looking back to this moment, Larla Ó Lionáird said, “When I submitted my doctoral study in January my father rang me and indeed he died in the same month but said ‘A Dhoctúir’ When I responded ‘You are in anticipation’ He said ‘No the work is done’.”

The approval of his father and acknowledgement of his success was especially because his father had been a highly regarded principal of secondary school. “One of the greatest feelings was, knowing Dad knew I had finished it,” Ó Lionáird explained. That is why he could indulge himself in that moment because it was very important to both of them – they were educators as well.

Apart from Larla Ó Lionáird’s academic activities are products of an academic past that has been long anticipated, he once studied for a Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology in 2003 while he was away from the Afro-Celt Sound System tour. 

He referred to that as a ‘very steep learning curve’ and those early years to the late Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, the founder of the Irish World Academy as a vital source of support and encouragement. “At some point I might have been wondering whether I could make it,” he said. “But Mícheál always motivated me to be able to do it. His encouragement really powered my efforts.”

However, managing both music and his PhD course at the same time brought him some challenges. As Larla Ó Lionáird started his doctoral process, his work with The Gloaming ensemble expanded and he had to tour quite often. ‘It was not easy to orchestrate all that,’ he said. 

From the nature of this type of doctoral study the process implies a significant measure of self-analysis and the development of the ideas that cannot be accelerated. The ideas are not bought in books but are internal.

From the nature of this type of doctoral study the process implies a significant measure of self-analysis and the development of the ideas that cannot be accelerated. The ideas are not bought in books but are internal.

The PhD process proved to be beneficial for Larla Ó Lionáird as the process enabled him to discover aspects of it and develop an appreciation of aspects of it that he may not have considered before.

He thanked his mentors, Professor Helen Phelan and Dr. Aileen Dillane who he said encouraged him throughout the process. “In the end, you have to choose to finish it. Unfortunately, no amount of me telling you this, will help,” he told me. “But enormous and continuous encouragement came to me from the people around me. ”

However, for Larla Ó Lionáird, the process of getting his PhD was not merely an academic accomplishment, but rather a very significant achievement on a personal level. It was a time which was equally full of reflections, struggles and finally triumphs. “It has been quite wonderful,” he summed up and looked back at his experience as a scholar and an artist. 

The experience not only helped him gain yet another accolade in his career but also helped him gain a deep understanding of his work as a musician, both on and off stage.